It is amazing how clear everything is when you just except yourself for whoever you are and not try to live up to a certain expectation. Since I have been out I have received my BA in Psychology and now I am in grad school working on my MA in counseling therapy. And one of the things I have learned since being in school is that I believe people try to use Jesus as an escape for unhappiness. Religion totally messes your mind and thinking up and many people just continue in an endless cycle of "mental abuse" with religion and Christianity. I do not in any way want to sound Blasphemous because I still love God but I think our thinking gets so distorted and we go overboard on the Bible. I see people with bullhorns shouting on street corners demanding people accept Jesus or go to hell. I just do not believe Jesus would act this way. People use the bible for all forms of bigotry to treat people bad. I was certainly guilty of this when I was a JW and now I realize part of that is to mask our own insecurities. I now try to help people just be themselves and stop looking at everybody else's faults. It is hard because as an ex-jws I still have thoughts to WT thinking.
Is Jesus just an "escape" for ex-jws and Born Agains to hide their unhappiness?
by booker-t 9 Replies latest jw friends
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Satanus
They shout about jesus to drown out their cognitive dissonences. A lot of people hide behind stuff, not just christians. I think that most of us start w the hiding early on in our lives. Then, we slowly drop our defences as we get older. We work towards being more our true selves as we face our fears. Older people are often far along in that. Thats why they often say things considered scandalous.
S
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yadda yadda 2
All religion is but a hangover from bygone times as an attempt to explain where we came from and where we are going, from times when ignorance and superstition preceded science and philosophy.
The most primitive form of religion was fetishism, the belief that spirits existed in nature, eg, a spirit of the wind, a spirit in the trees. People began to carve out pieces of wood and rock and worship them, ascribing them human-like attributes, known as anthropomorphism. Fetishism then developed into oral and written stories of ancient magical myths and legendary superhuman figures. Then these became prophets, priests and miracle men.
There are two things that will always be outside the scope of human knowledge: the very distant past and the very distant future. Religion is an attempt to explain those things. Have you noticed that miracles only occur in the very ancient past or the very distant future?
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passwordprotected
In a word, yes.
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jhine
that statement ignores many people who were unhappy then came to Jesus and became happy or joyful . It seems that most people focus on those who do use religion to support their own bigotry and want to continue in their former world veiw but want to make that veiw "acceptable " Of course there are peope who do that . There are many others who do truly do a 360 and turn their lives around for the better (for them and those around them ) . I was not unhappy when I became a Christian and am not unhappy now . I do not feel restrained by my faith in God or enslaved by rules or regs . True religion is not about that but about relationship .
Jan
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designs
jhine- Isn't that the ability of the conscious and subconsicous to problem solve. A myth, self fabricated, can be a powerful motivator. That is essentially what AA is based on namely you develop your own version of a Higher Power and then obey the rules you give your HP to achieve the discipline to overcome your addiction.
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jhine
Desgns , I understand what you are saying about AA . You do use the word discipline , which to me again has association with rules . I tried to make the point that Christianity as I see it at least and I am just one person is about relationship with God and others .
I am not sure which part of my previous post prompted you to comment about the ability to use the concious and subconcious to problem solve . Would you elaborate please .
Jan
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designs
jhine- Usually when speaking with people who believe in Jesus, and this belief has led them to change their lives, the image of Jesus is very individualized and culturalized. So it is not some historical person from 2000 years ago but the filtered version and the version that meets the person's needs.
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Fernando
The religious Jesus, a counterfeit created by the Pharisees (ruling religious clergy class) as a tool to further their agenda, is in many respects opposite to the real Jesus.
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jhine
thank you Designs ,
I can only answer from the perspective of faith , which I know you may not find satisfactory , but here goes .
If you believe in God the Father , Son and Holy Spirit then Jesus is not someone from 2000 yrs ago He is alive now in this culture and every culture . Thing is I believe that although cultures change human nature does not , and human need does not change . Now if you have more than one child yourself you know that each child has a seperate personality and each has their own strengths and weaknesses , and you deal with each child as an individual . So my explanation for what you have observed is that Jesus meets each individual in the place of their greatest need and of course is relevant to their culture because that is what they know .
As I said before Christianity is about relationship and any good relationship comes from each person knowing the other well . This should extend to Christians and their relationships with others , though of course we do not always get it right .
Jan
